It took 48 hours to print out all the mechanical parts of ProView S3 at a local 3D print shop using two printers. We were quite excited to see the physical form for the very first time after assembling the key parts. The $4000 3D printers they have at the 3D print shop could not print with very high precision, thus parts with fine details have problem fitting together; such as the top and bottom grips could not fit into the mount compartment.

Issues that'll later cause huge problem at production and some minor aesthetic & functional concerns that could be improved were uncovered with the 3D printed mockup. We felt very lucky that we weren't brave enough to try a CNC-milled design that better resemble a final product, which costs $3000 and taking 10 ~ 12 working days, but took a more conservative 3D printing approach that costs less than $90 and done in 3 days.

Many crowdfunding projects delayed from target ship date by more than 6 months. We hope by sound engineering at initial prototyping stage, with care on design for manufacturing, that we can later deliver on our target ship date, or only deviate a little from it.